Most conventional ceiling fans are similarly installed. FIG. 1 shows a partial side view of a conventional ceiling fan unit 1 that encompasses a general prior art ceiling fan system. In FIG. 1, ceiling fan motor 10 has a rotor component 20 that rotates about a central axis beneath motor 10, which is in turn connected to a housing 5 that is attached beneath a ceiling 2. A plurality of fan blades 30 are connected to the rotor 20 by mounting arms 40. Each mounting arm 40 has one end 42 connected to an end 32 of each fan blade 30, and a second end 44 having at least two through-holes 45 therethrough, so that conventional fasteners such as screws 50 pass through the through-holes 45 to mateably thread into threaded holes 25 in the bottom of rotor 20.
Usually most conventional directions have the installer first connect and hang the motor 10, rotor 20 and housing 5 to a ceiling. More often than not the installer is usually perched on a stool or ladder. Next, many directions have the installer attach the fan blades 30 to their respective mounting arms 40. Finally, one of the last steps is to connect the blade 30 and respective mounting arm 40 to the rotor 20 on the motor.
To finish this final assembly step takes great dexterity, patience, balance and time. In order for a single person 60 to be able to complete this final step, the installer 60 needs to hold in one hand 62 the fan blade 30 and already attached mounting arm 40, and to position a screw driver 70 to the heads of screws 50 with the other hand 64. The installer must be able to balance the mounting screws 50 on the tip of the screw driver 70, insert the screws upwardly through the holes 45 in the mounting arm, making sure not to accidentally drop the screws 50 and then screw the screws 50 into the mating holes 25 on the rotor 20 all while still holding the blade 30 and arm 40. This assembly requires the installer to have to constantly hold both hands 62 and 64 raised high above their head, while again standing on a stool or on a ladder.
Many problems occur from this traditional method of having one person installing a ceiling fan. Screws 50 can and do accidentally fall and become lost causing more time and more expense to finish the installation. The installer 60 often has to constantly re position the blade 30 and arm 40 in order to be able to properly line up the through-holes 45 in the mounting arms 40 with their respective mating holes 25 in the bottom of rotor 20. The blade 30 and mounting arm 40 have been known to fall on and cause injury to the user 60 during assembly. Additionally, the user can lose their balance and injure themselves as well as falling off the ladder and stool. Additional problems also occur after installation. For example, uneven tightening of each of the plural fasteners that connect the mounting arm to the motor has resulted in wobble effects when the ceiling fan system is running. Thus, the current operation of assembly has become known as a frustrating, undesirable, difficult, tedious, time consuming and sometimes dangerous task.
To merely add a second worker to help in the assembly installation may solve some of the problems above, but would add additional cost and labor expense to the installation project.
In addition to the difficulty of having to screw the blade arms onto the ceiling fan motor endshield, the endshield contains unsightly screw heads that detract from the appearance of the ceiling fan itself. Another problem with using screw type fasteners is that the fasteners themselves can loosen causing the blade arms and connected blades to accidentally fall resulting in damages to surrounding property and people beneath the ceiling fans.
Additionally, ceiling fan blades and their blade arm supports need to be cleaned to remove dirt and dust buildup. Existing fan blades and blade arms are hard to remove from the ceiling mounted motors. Thus, fan blades and their respective blade arms are left mounted on the ceiling mounted motors. Current techniques have relied on manually holding brushes directly to the ceiling mounted blades and blade arms which inherently tires the muscles in the cleaner's neck, shoulders, arms and hands. This messy cleaning with brushes causes the dirt to fall on both the cleaner and furniture and flooring beneath the fan.